Gerald Kleczka: “remember the old song, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Well, we are about to take a giant step to make that…”

“remember the old song, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Well, we are about to take a giant step to make that a truism today. People come to the floor today and will say that it is time to eliminate this tax. I ask them, why? It is part of our progressive tax system. Those who are worth the most and make the most pay a little more than the rest of us. The fact remains that the Republicans have manipulated this issue to the point where not only do they change the name of the tax, for there is no death tax, it is an estate tax, but they have also convinced every American that they are going to pay it, and that's false. The fact is 2 percent of the wealthiest Americans ever are subjected to the estate tax. In the State of Wisconsin, in 1998, there were 45,000 deaths, 45,000 deaths. Of all of those estates, 828 paid a tax. If, in fact, our proposal to raise the exemption to $5 million would pass in the State of Wisconsin, only 51 estates would pay this tax. Mr. Speaker, I agree with Bill Gates, Sr. He says, do not do this. There is a reason for this tax. And the reason, and I quote him from Senate testimony when he said, ``Without the estate tax,'' Gates told the Senators, ``there would be an aristocracy of wealth that has nothing to do with merit.'' He argued that ``paying the tax is the price of being a U.S. citizen.'' What do we do with the money? We help people like the students that were just in the gallery get to college with Pell grants.…”